Posts Tagged ‘wash’

My hubby is French and every time we spend time at his friends’ homes in Paris, I talk to the women about their gorgeous skin. When it comes to makeup, we mostly use the same products. But none of them believe in “washing their faces.” No face wash, no splashing with water until it’s squeaky clean. That seems really weird and foreign to them. While to us, it seems crazy not to wash our face! Instead, they all use micellar water (or eau micellaire as they call it). Their mothers used it. Their grandmothers used it. It goes way back. So here’s the deal: “micelles” are minuscule little oil molecules suspended in water and they attract oil and dirt like a magnet and pull them to the cotton ball. Have you ever noticed in the bath tub that when oil molecules floating in the water approach other oil molecules floating that they join together and become a bigger oil mass? That’s the power oil always has on other oil. Yet it leaves behind the hydrating soft water from the solution so it doesn’t strip your skin like face wash does. Making it a lifesaver for sensitive and acne-prone skin. I switched to it in January (I still can’t believe I haven’t washed my face in five months!) and my skin is so much calmer, clearer and more balanced. My skin is actually cleaner than using a face wash. If you don’t believe me, wash your face, exfoliate it and then wipe a cotton pad soaked in micellar water and inspect it afterward. You’ll die at what it picked up that the face wash and scrub left behind! It’s wild that something moisturizing is also so powerful at cleansing.

Pour/squeeze a small amount on the cotton square. You don’t need to douse it, just enough to wet half of the surface is fine.

Start wiping it all over. I typically start with a cheek then my forehead.

Continue across your lips if you need to remove lipstick and your eyes if you’re wearing eye makeup.

Wipe your nose and the sides of it.

Finish with the other cheek and your neck.

Because eye makeup has progressed through the years and most are longwear or waterproof formulas now, you might have to go back with a stronger eye makeup remover. I use coconut oil to remove mine (revisit this tutorial) but you can also use these serious eye makeup remover wipes.

When I’m showering, I remove my eye makeup with coconut oil before I get in the shower, then I wash everything BUT my face in the shower and use micellar water when I get out.

We’ve been schooled to believe that if we have oily or acne-prone skin, everything we buy needs to be “oil-free” or it will break us out. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Period! Ceansing oils are actually non-comedogenic and won’t clog pores.

Here’s the deal: A lot of oil-free cleansers out there strip our skin of natural oils, leaving it unbalanced and causing it to create more oil to rebalance it. Excess oil production equals more problematic skin. So I dare you to go against conventional wisdom and try the oil cleansing method. If you have oily skin, wash it with a cleansing oil. If you have dry skin, wash it with a cleansing oil. If you have normal skin, wash it with a cleansing oil. Get it? It’s the answer a lot of you have been looking for. It calms your skin down. Tells it everything is going to be ok. Keeps its natural pH balance without disturbing its natural moisture barrier. Prevents it from having to go into oil production overload. Essential oils in the cleansing oils are naturally antibacterial. It’s a win-win situation. Try it for a month and let us know if it works for you too. Here’s how:

We all know to fight aging with sunblock and night creams. We get regular facials or do at-home facials to work on our skin’s texture and keep it clear. But there’s something really powerful that you can do every day (or at least every other day) that is incredibly powerful because it exfoliates and helps generate cell turnover, which are both key to prevent early aging. It only takes 60 seconds and you can do it while you let your conditioner soak in! Here’s how: (more…)

This is, hands-down, the easiest and fastest way to take off waterproof liner, liquid liner, longwear shadows and the most stubborn makeup that you can dare to wear! Not to mention, it’s 100% natural, vegan and raw! And a jar lasts a really long time. And you can use it as a hair mask or as a body oil too… Clearly, I can go on and on! My model Skye actually taught me this particular trick last week so I’m new to it but an instant convert because of how easily it literally glides right off. Here’s how:

Facial Cloth — I used BSL Makeup Cloths because they are anti-bacterial and really absorb the makeup and prevent it from spreading all over the face. I also really love Eve Lom Muslin Cloths. For our readers that are eco-conscious, reusing facial cloths is another way to eliminate waste (just throw them in the wash and dry flat).

STEPS:

Sanitize your fingers with anti-bacterial soap or Purell. Dip two fingers in the coconut oil and scoop out a nickel-sized amount of the coconut oil. It will start to melt pretty quickly with the body temperature of your fingers so don’t dilly dally! Rub those two fingers with the identical two fingers on your other hand.

Look in the mirror to make a mental photograph then close your eyes and gently rub each eye with the corresponding fingers. You can certainly do one eye at a time, I just get so tired at night that I like to speed up the process!

Continue gently rubbing the oil over the makeup on both the top and bottom lids. You’ll feel the makeup melt away under your fingers.

Pick up the facial cloth and wipe everything off on the bottom lid.

Repeat on the top lid as well. And if you’ve filled in your brow, one sweep will take it off too!